American  Library  Association 
Books  afc  Work 


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BOOKS 

AT  WORK 


AMERICAN  LIBRARY  ASSOCIATION 


BOOKS  AT  WORK 

__  — • 

IN  THE  WAR 

DURING  THE  ARMISTICE 

AND  AFTER 


The  libraries  of  our  country  have  long  been  organ- 
ized for  their  general  improvement.  This  organ- 
ization, called  the  American  Library  Association 
and  often  spoken  of  as  the  "A.  L.  A.,"  was  asked, 
as  soon  as  we  entered  the  war,  to  provide  books 
and  journals  for  Army  and  Navy.  Here  is  the 
story,  in  words  and  pictures,  of  the  work  tliat  was 
done  in  response  to  that  request.  Fortunately, 
the  organization  is  able  to  continue  its  work;  and, 
at  the  suggestion  of  federal  authorities,  and  in 
co-operation  with  them,  it  is  bringing  it  to  pass 
that  books  and  journals  for  recreation  and  for 
serious  study  shall  be  within  reach  of  every  per- 
son in  federal  service.  The  Association  recog- 
nizes its  responsibility  to  encourage  and  promote 
the  development  of  library  service  for  every  man, 
woman  ami  child  in  America. 


AMERICAN  LIBRARY  ASSOCIATION, 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 
1919 


RR  MANY  YEARS  THE  NAVY  HAS  HAD  MODEST  AP- 
'ROPRIATIONS  FOR  BOOKS.  IT  WISHES  NOW  SO  TO 
ORGANIZE  ITS  LIBRARY  WORK  THAT  ENTERTAINING 
BOOKS  AND  MAGAZINES  WILL  BE  AVAILABLE  TO  ALL 
MEN  IN  THE  NAVY  AND  MARINE  CORPS;  THAT  A  MAN 
CAN  GET  ON  SHORT  NOTICE  ANY  BOOK  HE  WANTS 
FOR  SERIOUS  STUDY;  AND  THAT  MEN  WILL  BE  ENCOUR- 
AGED TO  READ  AND  STUDY  BOOKS  ON  NAVIGATION, 
SEAMANSHIP,  GUNNERY,  AND  CIVILIAN  VOCATIONS  AND 
TRADES,  AS  WELL  AS  BOOKS  ON  CITIZENSHIP,  HISTORY, 
TRAVEL  AND  GENERAL  LITERATURE.  THE  NAVY  ASKS 
THE  HELP  OF  THE  AMERICAN  LIBRARY  ASSOCIATION 
FOR  THIS  SERVICE,  AND  THAT  HELP  IS  GIVEN. 


2029470 


'HE  value  of  this  reading  matter  to  the  troops  and  sailors  is  beyond  estimation. 
It  is  a  fine,  healthy  sign  of  the  times  to  see  me  number  of  men  around  decks  en- 
tirely absorbed  in  the  boolcs  in  their  hands. — VICE-ADMIRAL  ALBERT  CLEAVES,  u.  s.  N. 


•HIS  is  "The  House  That  Jack  Built,"  erected  by 
the  men;  equipped  with  furniture  and  books  by  the 
Navy  and  the  American  Library  Association.  Li- 
brarian furnished  by  the  Association.  The  United  States 
Navy  has  supplied  a  few  books  and  magazines  to  the  large 
vessels  and  stations  for  many  years.  Trained  library 
workers  have  made  this  service  universal  and  have  built 
up  live  collections  of  the  latest  and  best  books.  Now 
the  bluejackets  are  always  studying  for  advancement. 


THE  sailor  gets  a  generous  lot  of  stories  in  these  stand- 
ard cases.  They  may  be  exchanged  with  any  other 
vessel  or  at  any  American  Library  Association  dis- 
patch office,  thus  giving  fresh  supplies  of  books  at  frequent 
intervals.    Each  case  holds  about  seventy  volumes.  Small 
vessels  get  one  case;  large  vessels,  many  cases. 


QUESTION:  "Do  real  men  want  real  books?  To 
supply  the  demand  among  soldiers,  many  of  the  war 
librarians  had  to  work  from  5.45  A.  M.  to  1 1.30  P.  M., 
and  even  then  could  not  begin  to  furnish  books  fast  enough. 
The  report  from  a  certain  camp  shows  an  average  attendance 
of  a  thousand  a  day,  and  on  one  day  there  were  fifty-three 
men  sitting  on  the  floor  at  one  time.  A  record  of  another 
branch  states  that  of  all  the  men  there  in  training,  one  out 
of  every  four  reads  and  returns  a  book  a  week." — From  Per- 
sonal Efficiency  in  Business,  by  Edward  Earle  Purinton. 


BRANCH  libraries  are  maintained 
in  the  recreation  buildings,  which 
are  provided  by  welfare  organiza- 
tions and  by  the  Army  and  Navy.  This 
is  the  library  in  the  Y.  W.  C.  A.  Hostess 
House  at  Rich  Field,  Texas. 


'HE  Army  built  a  library  for  the  A.  E. 
F.  University  at  Beaune  to  seat  five  hun- 
dred men,  then  doubled  its  capacity,  and 
finally  provided  for  fifteen  hundred  men. 
And  every  night  it  was  crowded.  The  American 
Library  Association  provided  the  books,  a  li- 
brarian, and  three  other  trained  workers.  The 
Army  detailed  sixty  officers  and  men  to  assist 
for  part  or  full  time.  A  great  educational  pro- 
gram was  carried  out  for  the  war-time  Army  in 
France.  A  new  educational  program  is  now  being 
inaugurated  for  the  peace-time  army  in  America. 


A 


need  of  provision  for  the 
leisure  of  the  soldiers  on  the 
Mexican  border,  led  to  the 
appointment  of  the  Commission 
on  Training   Camp  Activities. 
Small  groups  of  guards  stationed 
at  lonely  outposts  miles  from  town 
are  now  regularly  supplied  with 
traveling  libraries  containing  re- 
cent books  and  magazines. 


MORE  ADEQUATE  LIBRARY  SER- 
VICE FOR  THE  ARMY  IN  PEACE 
TIMES  IS  BEING  CONSIDERED  AS 
ONE  OF  THE  FEATURES  OF  THE  NEW  ED- 
UCATIONAL AND  RECREATIONAL  PRO- 
GRAM OF  THE  WAR  DEPARTMENT. 
THE  ASSOCIATION  IS  CO-OPERATING 
WITH  THE  DEPARTMENT  IN  ORGANIZ- 
ING SUCH  SERVICE  ON  A  PERMANENT 
BASIS.  BOOKS  AND  MAGAZINES  MUST 
BE  AVAILABLE  FOR  RECREATIONAL 
READING  AND  GENERAL  EDUCATION, 
AND  A  FIRST  CLASS  LIBRARY  SERVICE 
MUST  BE  ORGANIZED  AS  AN  ESSENTIAL 
PART  OF  THE  MILITARY  AND  VOCATION- 
AL TRAINING  THAT  IS  NOW  PROMISED 
TO  EVERY  SOLDIER. 


THE  trained  hospital  librarian  knows  a 
good  book  when  she  sees  one.  She  knows 
men,  too,  and  administers  books  with  as 
much  professional  skill  as  the  physician  does 
his  medicine.  One  of  the  leading  psychiatrists 
of  the  country  tells  us  it  is  almost  impossible 
to  over-estimate  the  therapeutic  value  of  read- 
ing, and  that  we  must  consider  it  in  this  light 
as  well  as  in  its  relation  to  occupational  and 
recreational  work.  By  means  of  books  mis- 
fortune is  turned  into  a  blessing. 


HAPPY  CO-OPERATION:  The  Associa- 
tion maintains  libraries  in  Red  Cross 
Houses,  and  in  the  huts  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association,  Young  Women's 
Christian  Association,  Knights  of  Columbus, 
Jewish  Welfare  Board,  Salvation  Army,  and 
War  Camp  Community  Service  throughout 
the  country. 


SEEING  is  believing.  Bringing  the  books 
to  the  man  awakens  new  interest.  Op- 
portunity for  selection  is  appreciated. 
In  over  two  hundred  hospitals  these  trucks 
make  regular  trips  to  men  not  able  to  go 
to  hospital  libraries. 


*s=|r=IEACHING  our  war  blind  to  read.  Raised 
type  is  read  with  the  fingers.    Revis 
Braille  grade  one  and  a  half  is  the  ty 


type  is  read  with  the  fingers.    Revised 
I*    Braille  grade  one  and  a  half  is  the  type 
adopted  by  the  leading  countries  of  the  world. 


There  are  now  few  books  in  this  type,  but  some 
of  the  best  literature  is  being  made  available. 


*-Br-JiLi     •     •     i     •     i. 


r  ^*  Tii^nr 


Public  Health  Service  has  requested 
the  American  Library  Association  to  place 
11     libraries  in  all  its  hospitals.  The  American 
Library  Association  expects  to  comply  with  this 
request,  furnishing  books  and  magazines  and 
also  a  librarian  to  take  charge  of  the  work  until 
the  Public  Health  Service  takes  it  over.  In  the 
Public  Health  Service  Hospitals  are  many  dis- 
charged soldiers,  sailors  and  marines. 


THE  United  States  Public  Health  Service  maintains  hos- 
pitals for  discharged  soldiers,  sailors  and  marines,  men 
from  the  merchant  marine  and  others.  The  many  who 
were  accustomed  to  library  service  in  army  and  navy  hospitals 
are  now  expecting  a  similar  service  from  public  health  hospi- 
tals. The  Association  has  co-operated  with  medical  officers  in 
charge  of  these  hospitals  and  provided  reading  matter  for  men 
who  have  seen  service  in  the  world  war.  The  Association  ex 
pects  to  continue  this  co-operation  with  the  Public  Health  Ser- 
vice until  the  Government  itself  can  assume  full  responsibility 
for  maintaining  all  needed  libraries. 


JHESE  are  the  life  savers  who  guard 
our  coasts.  They  are  intrepid  men 
and  unselfish.  Sometimes  their  task 
is  a  most  strenuous  one  but  they  also  have 
much  leisure  and  it  is  planned  that  their  iso- 
lated stations  shall  be  well  supplied  with 
worth-while  reading  matter. 


THE  UNITED  STATES  MAINTAINS  TWO 
HUNDRED  AND  SEVENTY-THREE 
COAST  GUARD  STATIONS,  WITH  A 
TOTAL  PERSONNEL  OF  ABOUT  TWO 
THOUSAND  EIGHT  HUNDRED  MEN.  DUR- 
ING WAR  THESE  ARE  UNDER  THE  NAVY, 
AND  THEY  HAVE  RECEIVED  BOOKS 
THROUGH  LIBRARY  WAR  SERVICE.  WHEN 
PEACE  COMES  THEY  REVERT  TO  THE 
TREASURY  DEPARTMENT.  IT  IS  HOPED 
THAT  THE  ASSOCIATION  CAN  CONTINUE 
ITS  CONTRIBUTIONS  OF  LITERATURE  |TO 
TO  THESE  STATIONS,  MANY  OF  WHICH 
ARE  ISOLATED  ON  THE  COAST  WHERE 
BOOKS  AND  MAGAZINES  ARE  QUITE  UN- 
OBTAINABLE. 


HE  life  on  a  lightship  or  in 
a  lighthouse  is  very  lonely. 
It  isn't  the  things  that  hap- 
pen that  make  life  difficult:  it 
is  the  things  that  don't  happen. 
The  keeper  is  often  confined 
for  weeks  at  a  stretch  when  the 
weather  is  bad  and  the  tender 
cannot  approach  with  relief. 


BOXES  of  books 
changed  frequently 
bring  the  comforts  and 
opportunities  of  civili- 
zation to  the  men  who 
make  the  sea  a  safe  high- 
way in  fog  and  storm. 


LIGHTHOUSES  AND  LIGHTSHIPS 

THERE  are  in  the  United  States  seven  hun- 
dred and   thirty-eight  light  stations  with 
resident  keepers  and  one  hundred  and 
eighteen  vessels.  Ahout  three  hundred  and  fifty 
of  the  stations  are  inaccessible  to  cities  or  towns, 
and  fifty  or  sixty  of  the  vessels  are  anchored  out 
from  shore.  The  commissioner  of  lighthouses 
asks  this  Association  to  provide  sets  of  about 
thirty  books  for  these  stations  and  vessels. 
He  says: 

The  service  is  now  provided  with  library  boxes 
for  this  purpose,  and  in  a  few  of  the  districts  there 
has  been  revision  of  the  books  within  the  last  few 
years.  In  the  majority  of  districts,  however,  owing 
to  the  lack  of  funds,  which  were  required  for  more 
urgent  work,  the  books  have  not  been  revised, 
and  in  most  such  cases  the  present  libraries  are  of 
very  little  use,  as  they  are  books  published  thirty 
years  or  more  ago.  in  small  type,  and  not  well  se- 
lected to  be  of  present-day  interest  to  the  keepers." 

It  is  probable  that  the  Government  will  continue 
the  service  when  it  is  once  properly  started. 


KNOWLEDGE  WINS 


Libraries  for  Discharged  Soldiers 

'HEN  the  armistice  was  signed  there  were  4,250,000 
men  in  service.  Most  of  them  have  now  returned  to 
civilian  life.  To  help  them  by  study  to  obtain  and  hold 
good  positions  and  to  fit  them  for  better  ones,  as  well  as  to  make 
them  better  citizens,  it  is  proper  for  the  American  Library  Asso- 
ciation to  co-operate  in  giving  them  library  service. 

This  service  may  well  take  the  form  of  a  direct-by-mail  lend- 
ing of  books,  co-operation  in  establishing  State  and  municipal 
libraries,  and  co-operation  in  establishing  industrial  libraries. 

Many  men  have  acquired  reading  habits  at  camp  libraries  and 
have  been  aroused  by  library  propaganda  to  the  practical  value 
of  reading  arid  study,  and  requests  have  been  coming  to  library 
headquarters  for  many  months  for  assistance  and  advice  in  the 
establishment  of  libraries  for  these  men. 

These  requests  cannot  be  ignored,  for  it  is  these  discharged 
soldiers, sailors  and  marines — manyof  them  disabled,andallhand- 
icapped  because  of  absence  from  their  businesses — who  have 
the  greatest  claims  upon  every  organization  and  every  citizen. 


THIS  county  library  truck  takes  books  to  the  rural 
homes  of  Washington  County,  Maryland.    The 
American  Library  Association  is  encouraging  the 
development  of  county  library  systems  as  the  best  means 
of  serving  dwellers  in  the  open  country.  This  is  one  way 
of  continuing  library  service  to  the  discharged  soldier. 
It  will  also  help  to  keep  boys  and  girls  on  the  farm. 


ACCORDING  to  the  United  States 
Commissioner  of  Education 
more  than  half  the  men,  women 
and  children  of  the  United  States  live 
in  the  smaller  towns  and  cities  out  of 
the  reach  of  the  city  libraries.  Proba- 
bly seventy  per  cent  of  the  entire  pop- 
ulation of  the  country  has  no  access  to 
any  adequate  collection  of  books  or  to 
a  public  reading  room.  Many  returned 
soldiers,  having  learned  the  value  of 
library  service  while  in  the  Army  or 
Navy,  are  now  asking  the  American 
Library  Association  to  lend  them  the 
books  they  need  and  to  assist  in  the 
establishment  of  local  libraries. 


3 HE  discharged  soldiers  and  sailors  are  using  the  pub- 
lic libraries  in  the  cities.  Similar  advantages  must  be 
made  available  to  men  on  the  farm,  in  the  small  towns 
in  the  mining  and  lumber  camps,  in  the  new  indus- 
trial communities,  and  everywhere.  Free  public  libraries 
exist  to  make  men  intelligently  moral,  intelligently  produc- 
tive and  intelligently  active  in  the  affairs  of  community  and 
nation.  They  must  become  as  universal  as  free  public 
schools.  They  are  great  continuation  schools  where  there 
are  no  restrictions  of  any  kind  but  the  energy  and  ambi- 
tion of  the  student. 


3HK  oil  boom  brought  thousands  of  men  into  Ranger, 
most  of  them  discharged  soldiers  or  sailors,  who 
wanted  books  for  study  and  recreation.  The  Ameri- 
can Library  Association  was  asked  to  help.  Ranger 
is  typical  of  many  industrial  communities  that  spring  up 
suddenly  in  response  to  unusual  situations.  Recreational 
activities  conducted  for  private  gain  and  often  unwholesome 
in  their  influence,  are  established  immediately  to  provide 
for  the  leisure  of  the  men.  Well  selected  books  render  a 
most  valuable  service  under  such  circumstances  and  some 
agency  must  be  ready  to  supply  them  until  the  new  com- 
munity is  able  to  provide  them  for  itself. 


AMERICAN   LIBRARY 


CLARENCE     S.    HUNS1NGER 

37     NORTH     MAIN 
FLAT    ROCK,     OHIO  

ASSOCIATION 

August    5,1919. 

The  American  Library  Association, 
78  East  Washington  Street, 
Chicago,  111. 

Dear  Friends: 

While  in  the  Army, I  made  good  use  of  the  Camp  Libraries 
and  do  appreciate  ever  so  much  the  service  your  Association 
men  gave  me.  After  the  armistice  was  signed  I  visited  the 
Library  practically  every  day  until  discharged  and  was  able 
to  study  and  complete  plans  for  my  life-work.   I  have  nothing 
but  praise  for  your  grand  work. 

The  War  Camp  Community  Service  friends  inform  me  that  if 
there  is  not  a  public  library  in  a  fellow's  home  town,  that 
we  should  write  to  you  friends.  There  is  no  Library  here  and 
would  like  to  inquire  if  it  would  be  possible  for  me  to  pro- 
cure special  books  that  I  want  from  time  to  time.  I  would  not 
care  for  a  general  selection  but  is  there  a  way  in  which  I  can 
secure  a  copy  of  a  special  book  at  any  time?  I  would  be  glad 
to  pay  for  such  a  service  and  will  appreciate  any  information 
you  are  able  to  give  me. 


A  STREAM   of   such  letters  as  this  shows  that  sometimes  the  men  who  most  need   books 
have  the  greatest  difficulty  in  getting  them.     These  include  many  discharged  soldiers  who 
feel  that  the   association  should  continue  to   give  them  library  service  until  their  own  com- 
munities are  able  to  provide  it. 


OU  have  done  a  great  work, 
but  your  work  is  not  done. 
You  have  not  completed  your 
task  until  you  have  done  all  these 
things  we  beg  of  you.  The  war 
has  made  us  all  better  men  and 
better  women.  The  country  is 
awakened  to  a  new  citizenship. 
A  primary  duty  of  that  citizenship 
is  to  care  for  its  men  in  uniform 
in  time  of  peace  as  well  as  in  time 
of  war." 

Commander  C.  B.  Mayo,  of  the  Morale 
Division  of  the  United  States  Navy  before 
American  Library  Association  Conference., 
Asbury  Park,  N.  /.,  June  25,  1919. 


